4.  The applicant, Ms Janina Trzaskalska, is a Polish national who was born in 1955 and lives in Częstochowa.
5.  She owned a plot of land which was expropriated by a decision of 5 May 1988 for the purposes of building a housing estate. By virtue of the same decision the applicant received compensation for one plot amounting to 1,121.299 old Polish zlotys (PLZ). By a supplementary decision of 8 June 1988 the Częstochowa Municipal Office fixed the amount of compensation for another plot at PLZ 560,649. On 29 January 1990 and 19 April 1990 the Municipal Office fixed the amounts of compensation for two remaining expropriated plots at PLZ 236,073.600 and PLZ 119,817.600, respectively.
6.  On 30 January 1997 the applicant filed a motion with the President of the Urban Development Office to declare the expropriation decision of 1988 null and void. She claimed that the compensation was too low, as the authorities had calculated it on the basis of agricultural land, whereas after the decision to build a housing estate the land should have been regarded as building land. The applicant invoked the relevant provisions of the Code of Administrative Procedure, on the basis of which land loses its agricultural nature after it has been expropriated for building purposes. The applicant's motion was forwarded to the Śląsk Governor on 25 January 1999.
7.  As the applicant received no reply to her original motion, on 6 October 1998 she filed the same motion with the Częstochowa Governor. The Governor informed the applicant by a letter of 8 December 1998 that in view of the need to obtain an expert assessment of the land's value, the case could be dealt with in the first quarter of 1999.
8.  On 13 April 1999 the Śląsk Governor's Office notified the applicant that proceedings to declare the contested decision null and void had been instituted.
9.  On 26 July 1999 the Śląsk Governor declared the expropriation decision of 5 May 1988 and the supplementary compensation decision of 8 June 1998 null and void as having been issued in flagrant breach of the law.
10.  On 20 October 1999 the Częstochowa Municipal Office instituted administrative proceedings in order to fix the amount of compensation for the expropriation of the applicant's land.  On 20 November 1999 the Municipal Office contacted five experts, asking them to quote by 5 December 1999 a price for drawing up an evaluation report in the applicant's case, and informed the applicant that her case would be dealt with within 14 days from the submission of the evaluation report.  Subsequently, S.H. was appointed as an expert. As he resigned on 1 February 2000, A.G. was assigned the case.
11.  On 17 February 2000 the applicant was notified that the time-limit for the examination of the case had been set for 31 March 2000. On 13 March 2000 A.G. submitted his evaluation report, wherein he assessed the value of the real estate at PLN 63,000 and the amount of compensation which had already been paid, re-assessed against inflation, at PLN 46,980.
12.  On 28 March 2000 the evidentiary proceedings were terminated and the applicant was invited to read the file and submit her comments.
13.  On 4 April 2000 the applicant challenged the evaluation report.
14.  On 20 April 2000 the Mayor awarded the applicant compensation for the expropriated plot in the amount of PLN 63,000, reduced by the amount of PLN 46,980 already paid to her by virtue of the decision of 5 May 1998. The applicant appealed on 7 May 2000, contesting the amount of compensation. She argued that she had been granted PLN 17 (EUR 4.50) per square metre, whereas the average price of land in the neighbourhood at the material time was PLN 32 per square metre.
15.  On 5 June 2000 the Śląsk Governor's Office quashed the decision and remitted the case for re-examination, having noted that the first-instance authority had wrongly fixed the amount of compensation according to the regulations which had been in force until 15 February 2000. On 28 June 2000 A.G. was ordered to submit a new evaluation report, which he did on 2 August 2000. The value of the land was assessed at PLN 1,767,388.
16.  On 9 August 2000 the Municipal Office scheduled a hearing for 23 August 2000 and summoned the applicant and A.G. The applicant failed to attend it. On 28 August 2000 she justified her absence at the hearing and asked for another hearing to be scheduled. The date was set for 22 September 2000. The time-limit for a decision to be given in the case was extended until 30 September 2000.
17.  On 12 September 2000 the applicant submitted additional pleadings and requested that certain evidence be taken.
18.  The hearing was held on 22 September 2000. The applicant again challenged the report and submitted further documents as evidence.
19.  On 26 September 2000 the applicant asked the Municipal Office to extend the time-limit for deciding her case as she had ordered a private expert opinion which would be submitted by the end of October 2000. On 5 October 2000 the Office extended the time-limit until 28 November 2000. On 6 November 2000 the applicant submitted a report prepared by Z.S., who assessed the value of the land at PLN 2,933.000.  In view of the discrepancies between the expert opinions, on 16 November 2000 the Municipality requested the Silesian Association of Property Experts (Śląskie Stowarzyszenie Rzeczoznawców Majątkowych) to assess those two expert opinions. On 31 January 2001 the Association gave its opinion to the effect that the conclusions reached by Z. S. were correct, notwithstanding the fact that certain amendments to the report had to be made.
20.  On 16 May 2001 the applicant was ordered to submit an amended report by Z.S within seven days, on pain of a decision being given on the basis of the available evidence. The applicant failed to comply with the order. On 7 August 2001 a new expert opinion was ordered. On 8 October 2001 F.Ś. submitted a new evaluation report wherein he considered that the value of the land on the day of expropriation amounted to PLZ 2,346,616 (before the revaluation of the currency).
21.  On 30 October 2001 the Municipal Office scheduled a hearing for 9 November 2001. The applicant attended it. The Office heard experts Z.S. and F.Ś., who upheld the conclusions of their evaluation reports. Z.S. was granted seven days to supplement his report according to the guidelines of the Silesian Association of Property Experts (see paragraph 19 above). However, he failed to do so.
On 11 December 2001 the applicant again read the case file and declared that she would present her position in writing by 20 December 2001. On 19 December 2001 she submitted pleadings in which she again challenged the expert opinions. In her opinion, neither of the experts had taken into account decisions on compensation issued for her neighbours.
22.  By a decision of 16 January 2002 the Mayor fixed the amount of compensation at PLZ 22,346,616 and granted the applicant compensation in the amount of PLN 21,375 (EUR 5,600) which constituted the difference between the amount of compensation fixed and that already paid in the past. The Mayor refused to admit the report of Z.S. as evidence, having regard to the fact that it had not been supplemented as requested. On 6 February 2002 the applicant appealed, arguing that the amount was insufficient. At the same time she submitted the supplement to the expert opinion. On 15 February 2002 the appeal was forwarded to the Śląsk Governor. The Governor quashed the decision on 9 April 2002 and remitted the case for re‑examination.  The Mayor appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court.  On 8 August 2002 the Śląsk Governor filed with the Supreme Administrative Court his pleadings in reply.
23.  By a judgment of 14 June 2004 the Supreme Administrative Court upheld the Governor's decision to quash the first-instance decision given by the Mayor. The judgment became final on 14 September 2004. On 16 November 2004 the Municipal Office informed the applicant that expert opinions had again been ordered in her case.  On 5 January 2005 an expert was appointed and asked to prepare an evaluation report by 5 February 2005. He submitted his report on 7 February 2005. On 11 February 2005 a hearing was scheduled for 2 March 2005.
24.  On 2 March 2005 a hearing was held. By a decision of 15 March 2005 the Mayor fixed the amount of compensation to be paid to the applicant at PLN 81,240 It considered that the amount of compensation already paid was PLZ 51,490.34. Thus, the amount to be paid to the applicant was PLN 29,749.66.